Wednesday, October 18, 2006

CSC-Ya Later

It's Over!: In a fairly friendly press release, Bjarne "The Waffle" Riis finally announced the mutual parting of the ways between CSC and Ivan Basso. Aw, rats! Basso, of course, was diplomatic and respectful--which thank God I'm under no obligation to be--focusing on his future and his faith that staying on his bike after his last-second ditch from the Tour in Strasbourg has kept him ready for the challenges ahead. First, am I the only law geek who wants to look at that deal, and see how much they had to pay Basso for tanking his contract on unproven allegations? Drinks are on Ivan, I suspect! Second, you suck Riis! First you whine that he's wrecked your rep and send him down the river with a cool "I've got no control over him." Then you defend his honor and attack the cruelty of a system that preemptively crushed the careers of stellar riders without concrete evidence. Then, you pull a Pat McQuaid on him again. Could you have made up your mind before you gave us all a migraine and threw a likely wrench into the career of whatever poor innocent SOB Basso's going to boot out of their expected team leadership in a late-season coup (and it better not be Levi Leipheimer)? Finally, while I'm happy for the potential CSC focus on Sastre and the Vuelta, is Riis really going to bet the sponsor's dough on the least publicly-known of the three Grand Tours, or are you going to make him work for baby golden boy Schleck or someone else in France and grossly overuse him as he experienced this season?

Fallout: Discovery's Dirk Demol, of course, immediately leapt into hypertechnical nondenial mode, claiming that "nothing concrete" has been presented to Basso, which to me sounds like the slobbering courier's only just been released from his chain to spring over to Basso's lawyer's office with the drool-covered contract in his teeth. And of course, I'd utterly forgotten that Basso used to be with Fassa Bortolo, which leaves his purported interest from mostly-successor Milram making more sense, but still begs the question of exactly who the hell is going to take him to the next Grand Tour win he can surely grab otherwise--what, Petacchi's going to drag his @$$ up the Alps? Meantime, sourpuss implode-athon T-Mobile's already snarking that the other teams which might have an interest in Basso of course have no ethics, which may in fact be a less grievous insult to cycling than the wholesale self-destruction of a brilliant and balanced powerhouse and unjustifiable screwing of serious talent which the team engaged in by jacking around Kloden and Kessler in a hyperventilating fit of anti-Ullrich fervor. You made your bed, T-Mobile, quit crying excuses about why your 2007 season's already crap!

About Me

Why do I love pro cycling? Because it's a chess game at 50 kilometers an hour. Because the last broken man in the peloton makes the best athlete from every other sport look like a 98-pound weakling. Because the women do it without multimillion-euro contracts, tv coverage, podium babes or homage. Because they can climb like they're being lifted by angels and descend like they're being pursued by devils. Because the tifosi will freeze on a mountaintop for six hours just to hand them newspapers to protect them on the downhill. Because a sprint is the cork shooting out of the champagne bottle. Because the exquisite reach of a time trial position is suffering and beauty personified. Because it gives the perfect sense of power and movement to those who can never achieve either. Because I must.
Come and see.